TRON: Legacy is a sequel to the 1982 film TRON. Joseph Kosinski made his feature film directorial debut with this film, while the previous film director, Steven Lisberger, returned as a producer. Jeff Bridges reprises his roles as Kevin Flynn and Clu, Bruce Boxleitner reprises his roles as Alan Bradley and Tron, and Garrett Hedlund portrays Flynn's 27-year-old son, Sam. Other cast members include Olivia Wilde, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen. Bridges and Boxleitner are the only actors to appear in both films. Writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (who both worked on the hit television show, "Lost") wrote the screenplay. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo of the French electronic band Daft Punk composed the film's score. It is rated PG in America for "sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language." The film's plot involves Kevin's son Sam investigating his father's disappearance, when he finds himself digitized into the Tron system. Upon arrival, he encounters Clu, a despot digital doppelganger of Sam's father, who will stop at nothing to prevent Sam or his father escaping from the system.

Contents

Working Titles

For almost a year, the sequel had many working titles, some official and some accidental misspellings. The project was first known as "TR2N", then just "TRON". Other people started calling the movie "TRON 2.0", which would have caused confusion between the movie and the 2003 video game of the same name. Other news sources said that the title was "TRZ", and "TRN" however the latter turned out to be the code name for the movie during production.

Plot

In 1989, Kevin Flynn - now CEO of ENCOM - tells his son Sam the story of his adventures in the Grid and about how he, Tron and Clu discovered something amazing and miraculous. Sam asks about it, but is told to wait for next time as Kevin leaves for work. It then cuts to a montage of events and news reports reporting Kevin's disappearance. This devastating news has not only jeopardized ENCOM's future, but—after the car crash which killed Sam's mother Jordan Canas prior to the events of the movie—has also left Sam as an orphan.

The year is now 2010, where the now-adult Sam breaks into the ENCOM Tower and steals ENCOM's newest operating system OS 12, releasing it online as part of his annual prank on the company. After being chased to the top of the tower by a security guard, Sam reveals himself as the major shareholder of ENCOM, who then attempts to freefall off the tower only for his parachute to snag onto a traffic light. As he tries to reach his motorbike on foot, he is arrested and is eventually released a few hours later.

Sam eventually returns to his apartment where he meets Alan Bradley, who tells him about a page he received from his father's office in the arcade, which has been disconnected for over 20 years. Reluctantly following the tip, Sam locates a hidden doorway behind the arcade's TRON game which leads him to a secret workshop. He begins searching through his father's computer and unknowingly activates a digitizing ray which transports into the digital world. As the confused young man steps out onto the Grid, he is captured by a recognizer, and the programs within assign him to the games.

He is then taken down to the armorySirens, to be clad in armour and given an Identity Disc. He arrives in the Disc Wars Arena which he narrowly survives, only to face Rinzler in the final round, who recognizes Sam as a user after seeing him bleed. The Grid's leader, who has been watching the events from a Command Ship, has Sam brought to him. As the two talk, Sam believes at first that he is speaking to his father, before realizing it to be Clu, who Kevin had described to Sam as being "...made in my own image."

Clu has Sam sent to the Light Cycle Grid, while a masked woman watches them unnoticed. Sam is given a baton and teamed with several other programs in the ensuing duel against Clu and his followers, but ends up as the sole survivor of his group. He is saved from deresolution by the stranger who, while driving away in a Light Runner, introduces herself as Quorra. She takes him to his father's Safehouse, where Kevin, who explains that he was working with Tron and Clu to make the Grid into a "perfect" system. However, a brand new type of program manifested itself within the Grid. These "Isomorphic Algorithms" - or ISOs - were the miracle Kevin spoke of before his disappearance, and he felt they represented revolutionary potential to "change the human condition". Clu, however, saw the ISOs as an imperfection within the system and felt betrayed when Flynn chose to embrace the ISOs. Clu betrayed his friends in order to take control of the system and purge it of all ISOs. Tron fought for Flynn and was never seen again. Flynn remained trapped in the Grid when the portal back home closed on him.

Later, Sam argues with his father as he believes they can still make their way to the portal - which will remain open for eight Grid-world hours - and return home, but Kevin objects, citing that this is exactly what Clu would want: a prime opportunity to steal Kevin's identity disc, the "Master Key" that could give Clu complete, unrestricted access to the Tron system.

Sam decides that if he could at least make it to the portal, he and Alan could shut down Clu from the outside. Quorra sympathizes and sends Sam to find a program named Zuse, who may be able to help Sam. With his mind made up, Sam takes off in Kevin's light cycle. Later in the night, Kevin finds Sam missing and resolves to come out of hiding to go after his son. Sam abandons Kevin's Light Cycle in the city, where Clu's operatives are able to trace its point of origin to Flynn's Safehouse in the Outlands. However, Clu finds the refuge abandoned, having just missed Flynn.

As Sam explores the city he crosses paths with the Siren Gem, who offers to take him where he needs to go. At the End of Line Club, Gem calls on club-owner Castor who reveals himself to be Zuse. Zuse, a self-interested program, betrays Sam to Clu, whose Black Guard arrive to apprehend him. Quorra and Kevin arrive in time to intervene: Quorra's arm is derezzed in the ensuing brawl and Kevin's disc is stolen as the trio escape. Clu, later double-crosses Castor, destroying the End of Line club, and derezzing Castor and Gem in the process.

Kevin and Sam argue over their next course-of-action, deciding to take a Solar Sailer to the portal. As he repairs her arm, Kevin reveals Quorra as the last surviving ISO. Afterwards, Sam and Kevin bond with each other while Quorra's system reboots. Upon awakening, Quorra and Sam begin to show more interest in each other. She speaks about how she met Kevin, as well as her desire to see the real world. When she asks Sam to describe a sunrise, he compares it to her: "warm, radiant and beautiful".

Unbeknownst to them, the Solar Sailer's course is diverted, taking them instead to a massive Carrier Ship, The Rectifier, where they discover that Clu is forcibly repurposing programs in order to form his own army. As they try to find an escape, Kevin recognizes Rinzler as his old friend, Tron, who was also repurposed by Clu. Quorra runs off from the Flynns to distract the approaching Rinzler, getting herself captured and then presented to Clu. Upon recognizing her as an ISO, Clu threatens to having something special in mind for her, before dismissing Quorra and Rinzler.

As Kevin and Sam debate their next move, Clu addresses his army of repurposed programs, revealing his grand plan. Having secured Kevin's disc, Clu is now able to take his carrier and army to invade the real world in order to "perfect" it. While Kevin seeks transport for their escape, Sam makes his way to Clu's Command Ship for Quorra and Kevin's disc. After a failed attempt to quiz Clu's henchman Jarvis on Quorra's whereabouts, Rinzler returns to the Command Ship with Quorra and engages Sam once again. Sam emerges victorious, disarming Rinzler and leaving him hanging over a ledge. Sam and Quorra use a Tron chute to make their escape, meeting up with Kevin on the flight deck. Clu returns to his Command Ship to find the disc gone and derezzes Jarvis for letting them escape. Clu, Rinzler and his Black Guard then give chase in their Light Jets.

Sam and Quorra manage to blast all the Black Guards out of the sky, leaving Rinzler and Clu in pursuit. When Kevin makes eye contact with him, Rinzler begins to regain his memories as Tron and abandons the chase, leaving the frustrated Clu to pursue them instead. Tron intervenes, knocking Clu out of the sky. In free-fall, Tron readies a second Light Jet, but Clu wrestles it from him and goes after the Flynns. Tron is left unconscious and sinking into the Sea of Simulation.

As the trio head towards the portal, Kevin asks Quorra to do something for him. Clu awaits them as they reach their destination and confronts Kevin, insisting he was simply following the directive programmed into him, that it was Kevin who betrayed his promise to make a perfect world together. Kevin accepts the accusation, apologizing for setting Clu on such an impossible task. Clu attacks Kevin and Sam retaliates, but Kevin sends Quorra to get Sam to the portal. The bridge to the portal breaks off, separating the group whilst Clu goes for Kevin's disc. But he is shocked to find that it is Quorra's disc instead - the two had switched discs en route. Outraged, Clu jumps the gap after Sam and Quorra, just as they activate the portal. But just before Clu can reach the portal, Kevin telekinetically seizes and then reintegrates him, apparently destroying them both, along with Clu's approaching carrier and his entire army, in a brilliant and massive explosion.

Back in the real world, Sam copies the Grid from Kevin's old servers onto a small microchip he wears around his neck (bearing a small circle that looks exactly like the original identity disc). Alan Bradley arrives after receiving another page, and Sam tells him he will take over ENCOM, and that Alan was right about everything. Quorra waits for him outside the arcade and asks what's next. Sam replies, "I guess we're supposed to change the world." Sam then takes her to see her first sunrise.

3-D

A significant creative stance was taken with the filming of TRON: Legacy. The real world was filmed conventionally, while footage of performers for inside the computer world was captured with 3-D in mind. This resulted in a stark transition from the mundane representation of the real world, to a much more elaborate world within the system. A similar technique was used in The Wizard of Oz (1939), in transitioning from black and white footage to colour footage, to draw viewers into the fictional world with an added sense of amazement.

The Fusion Camera System

In order to create a quality 3-D image the TRON: Legacy production turned to the Fusion Camera System, the 3-D technology pioneered by James Cameron and Vince Pace and used for the 2009 hit, Avatar. The Fusion Camera System makes use of two Sony HDC-F950 HD cameras to track objects independently, thus mimicking the stereoscopic function of a pair of human eyes. This provides digital data ready for rendering objects three dimensionally and ensures the highest possibilities of a good 3-D presentation.

Music

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, better known as the Parisian electronic band Daft Punk, composed the film's score. The score was performed by an 85-piece orchestra, who recorded the tracks at AIR Lyndhurst Studios in London, UK. The soundtrack was released on 7 December 2010. Journey's 1983 single "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" and Eurythmic's 1983 single "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" are also featured in the film.

Tron: Legacy (Soundtrack)

The CD's music list in order is:

Overture

The Grid

The Son of Flynn

Recognizer

Armory

Arena

Rinzler

The Game Has Changed

Outlands

Adagio for Tron

Nocturne

End of Line

Derezzed

Fall

Solar Sailer

Rectifier

Disc Wars

C.L.U.

Arrival

Flynn Lives

TRON: Legacy (End Titles)

Finale

The soundtrack also comes in a limited 2-disc Special Edition, which features five bonus tracks. Online versions of the soundtrack purchased from specific vendors (iTunes, Amazon and Nokia Ovi) also each feature their own exclusive tracks.

Special Edition Bonus Disc:

ENCOM, Part I

ENCOM, Part II

Round One

Castor

Reflections

iTunes Bonus:

Father and Son

Outlands, Part II

Amazon Bonus:

Sea of Simulation

Nokia Ovi Bonus:

Sunrise Prelude

Home theater release

TRON: Legacy, released for home entertainment on April 5, 2011, is available on multiple home entertainment platforms, including Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™, DVD, Digital Copy, Movie Download and On-Demand. Also included is TRON: The Original Classic Special Edition. Reviews have praised its audio/visual quality.[1]

Bonus features include the making of the film and the Disney Second Screen interactive experience. Disney Second Screen transforms the movie watching experience by allowing viewers to explore the story behind the film perfectly synched on a second device, like an iPad™ or laptop.

The original motion picture score for TRON: Legacy was composed and produced by Daft Punk. The album peaked at No. 4 on The Billboard 200 and was the highest charting score soundtrack in over a decade. Walt Disney Records will be releasing TRON: Legacy R3C0NF1GUR3D, an album featuring 14 remixes of the original motion picture score on April 5.

Easter Eggs

The US release of the TRON: Legacy Blu-ray contains a handful of hidden Easter Eggs as part of the TRON: The Next Day feature, some potentially setting up the storyline of the third film. The hidden clips are accessible via a "Space Paranoids" arcade-style high scores menu following the short film, requiring the viewer to type in various high score initials to access the clips. The hidden clips included are as follows:

DJR - An instant-messaging screen showing a conversation between Edward Dillinger Jr. and either his father or the Master Control Program, discussing Sam's takeover of ENCOM, with the MCP/Dillinger Sr. warning Jr. of Sam, "He may not be his father but he is still a Flynn. Don't underestimate him." before signing off with the MCP's classic catchphrase "End of line". This clip has been reported for a long time to be on the disc as part of a TRON 3 "teaser", and potentially sets up the villains for the future film.

CEO - A tape recording of Alan Bradley speaking on an ENCOM executive about what Flynn may have been doing before his disappearance.

MKT - An excerpt from a financial news report featuring an interview with Bradley about Sam's takeover of ENCOM.

SAM - Full footage of the ENCOM press conference in 2010, launching Space Paranoids Online. This clip also features members of Flynn Lives interrupting the conference and Sam Flynn doing a helicopter jump at the event. This event was held for real as part of the ARG at WonderCon 2010.

TAG - A promotional video of the Flynn Lives Organization on a video site, showing its members graffitiing several pieces of ENCOM property, including the famous back door entrance.

FLV - Another promo video of the organization circa 1990, showing an interview with Alan Bradley and other people about Flynn's disappearance.

DFB - Advertisement for Kevin Flynn's book: "The Digital Frontier", published before his disappearance.

GAM - Some more footage of the real-world ARG, and the several "Flynn's Arcade" settings set up as part of it.

Development and pre-production

Rumors

In the late 1990s, there were speculation that Disney would make a sequel film, due to the original film's big cult following. On July 29, 1999 ZDnet news that a TRON sequel or remake was being considered by Pixar.[2]
Throughout the next several years, many false rumors that a TRON sequel was in production or being developed were reported by various news websites.

On January 13, 2005, Variety reported that Disney had hired Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to write a sequel to TRON, confirming speculation that a sequel was in the works.

Proof-of-concept Trailer

On July 24, 2008 at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego, California, Disney showed a surprise trailer for the sequel, which was called TR2N.

The footage began with an update of the light cycle duel from TRON, pitting a blue program against a yellow one with the two racing through a futuristic landscape. While in pursuit, the blue program manages to evade the mysterious yellow program. However, the yellow program took a shortcut and drove in front of the blue racer, making him crash into the yellow driver's Light Ribbon. The blue program flew off his cycle and into the air before landing on the road and almost falling into an abyss, where the road ends. Meanwhile, the duel is being observed from a high, cliff-side structure by a human figure wearing regular clothing – an older, bearded Kevin Flynn played again by Jeff Bridges. The yellow program pulls his light cycle over and climbs off, grabbing his identity disc, which now appears as a glowing ring. As the unknown yellow rider approaches the blue program, the defeated racer yells out to his opponent, "You won, okay? It's just a game!" The yellow racer, turns on his helmet light revealing himself to be Clu, Flynn's old hacker program who was derezzed by the MCP in 1982. Clu's replies to the program, "Not anymore...", and throws his disc at the blue program, killing him. The footage ended with a '2' appearing in the traditional TRON font and the title, TR2N, emerging around it, then fading away to leave the number.

Joseph Kosinski directed the promo and is currently directing the film. Kosinski previously directed commercials for Gears of War, Halo 3, Apple Computers and others, and was noted for his skill at blending photo-realistic CGI with real actors and scenery. Lost writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are slated to write the film.

Originally, the test trailer did not prove that a TRON sequel was in production, but it showed that Disney was serious about a sequel. Some speculated that the trailer was not only to see how the public will react to the trailer, but to show the executives at Disney what a TRON sequel will look like. Producer Sean Bailey later said in an interview that if the trailer did not have a good reaction, the movie would have never been made.

The same trailer was shown again at Comic-Con in July 2009 but noticed that the films title had changed from TR2N to TRON: Legacy.

Greenlighted

On September 24, 2008, Disney showcased its upcoming films in a day-long presentation for Disney partners and the media at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, CA. One of the many films showcased was TR2N, in which the same trailer from Comic-Con was shown to the crowd. According to AICN:

“

They showed the TRON 2 trailer (and everyone went nuts), the same that was shown at Comic Con and [Walt Disney Studios chairman] Dick [Cook] said, 'it was for sure a go'.

”

Viral Marketing

On July 21, 2009, several movie-related websites posted they had received via mail a pair of "Flynn's Arcade" golden coins along with a flash drive. Its content was an animated gif image that showed css code lines. Four of them were put together and part of the code was cracked, revealing the url to Flynnlives.com, a fictional site maintained by activists who believe Kevin Flynn is alive, even though he's been missing since 1989. Clicking on a tiny spider in the lower section of the main page leads to a countdown clock that hits zero on Thursday, July 22, 9:30pm. Within the Terms of Use Section, an address was found. It lies at San Diego, CA, nearby the city's convention center, where the Comic Con 2009 is taking place and some footage/info on the sequel is expected to be seen. Many suspect the Arcade has been re-opened at that location.

A second viral site, homeoftron.com, has been found. It portrays some of the history of Flynn's Arcade as well as a fan memoir section.

In December 2010, Flynn Frontier appeared (linked from the Flynn Lives site), featuring info about books authored by Kevin Flynn before his disappearance.

Trivia

During the prologue, there is a scene showing Kevin Flynn's house where the young Sam has wallpapers featuring both TRON and The Black Hole, which are science fiction adventure films released by Disney. Furthermore, TRON: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski has signed on to direct a remake of The Black Hole.

Also at the beginning of the movie, two figurines are seen to be in the middle of a disc battle, foreshadowing Sam's battle in the Disc Wars. A model of the 2nd generation light cycle can likewise be seen, foreshadowing later in the film when we see Kevin's light cycle.

While retelling the story of meeting Tron to young Sam, Kevin briefly hums the signature theme-music from TRON.

When Sam is breaking into ENCOM, he uses a device similar to his father's device in the first film. He also quotes his father, saying "Now that, is a big door," as the door opens.

After Sam's "generous" visit to ENCOM Tower, when he returns to his garage-like apartment, the word DUMONT can be seen in TRON font above the opening door. Dumont was the name of the I/O Tower guardian that helped Tron and Yori in TRON. His user, Walter Gibbs, also mentioned having started ENCOM in his garage.

"This isn't happening," is the first thing that Sam says after entering the Tron system. Kevin said the same thing when he first crossed over into the ENCOM mainframe's Game Grid.

The speech said by the female voice when Sam is getting his Identity Disc is almost exactly, word-for-word, the same as the one Sark says in the first movie, just without the MCP in it: "Attention program. You will receive an identity disc. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted on this disc. If you lose your disc or fail to follow commands, you will be subject for immediate deresolution".

One of the female programs giving Sam his armor remarks that, "He is different." Ram says something similar about Flynn in the first film. Both cases refer to the programs sensing the Flynns being users.

When ordering Rinzler to shoot at Flynn's Light Jet in the final battle, Clu tells him to "Finish the game." Sark in the first film tells Flynn to "Finish the game" during Flynn's first ring battle.

The shot of Sam and Quorra in the portal, with Sam holding the disc above his head, is similar to the original Tron poster of Tron holding the disc above his head standing next to Yori. This is the poster seen at the beginning of the film. It's also similar to the scene where Tron contacts Alan-One in the I/O tower in the first film.

TRON director Steven Lisberger appears in a cameo as the bartender at the End of Line Club.

Flynn's office appears to contain the same couch as in the first film, and still has a parking meter in it. The hand-held video game Flynn briefly played in the first film can be seen on the couch in the arcade basement.

In TRON, Flynn's Arcade was located on Watseka St. The surrounding neighborhood has changed in the 30 years since. There is now a freeway bridge in the background, and the arcade is on Mead St.

FACTUAL ERROR: In the arcade scene, when Sam finds his father's office underground, the picture of Kevin Flynn holding baby Sam is really a picture of Garret Hedlund (Sam's actor) holding another child in his lap. You can obviously see Garret's haircut and nose.

In the opening scene to Legacy, the home footage of Sam and his mother is incorrect. The video was taken before Sam's mom passed away in a car accident, making Sam less than two years old. He appears to be around seven years of age in the video. This was originally cut from the movie, because the filmmakers decided to have Sam's mother die whilst he was still quite young. Sam was born in 1983; the video was taken in or prior to 1985.

In the light cycle battle, one of CLU's team, a red cycle, mysteriously disappears. We, the viewing audience, presume Sam and/or his compatriots ran the 4th red cycle member into the derezz pile sometime off-camera.